The active compound in all of these products is gamma-Butyrlactone, or "Lactone". gamma-Butyrlactone is one of the two chemicals used to create GHB. In the last few years, since GHB has become scheduled in many states, Butyrlactone has been sold by many companies as a replacement for GHB. Butyrlactone is converted into GHB in the body. It's effects are extremely similar to GHB though the required dosages are lower than that of GHB. This can cause problems with possibly overdosing.

Most of these products are named and marketed in such a way as to make it somewhat difficult to know exactly what they are. It seems clear this is being done intentionally to try to avoid the GHB stigma. The FDA issued a warning about Lactone on January 21, 1999 which asks manufacturers to voluntarily recall their lactone containing products. Our reading of this suggests that it is still legal to possess lactone federally, but it is becoming less clear whether it is legal to sell lactone for human consumption. We don't know of anywhere that has yet specifically scheduled or restricted lactone, but the DEA is currently 'watching' suppliers of the chemical.